His Life Without Her In It
by LaughingSenselessly
Summary: He hasn't seen her in three years, but Korra is never far from his thoughts. [MAKORRA fic although technically Korra's not in it.] A series of one shots from the three years that Korra was gone, with appearances from Asami, Bolin, Lin Beifong, Wu, Tenzin and more.


**BEFORE**

"I'll only be gone a couple of weeks," she reassures them.

The vacant look in her eyes as she says this is anything but reassuring.

He stands with the rest of them and waves her goodbye as the ship sails away and her face gets smaller and smaller, and he can't help but feel some sort of finality to it. Even though he knows she's coming back.

She has to come back. She said she would come back.

**AFTER: TWO WEEKS**

He taps the pen incessantly against the paper, trying to think of something that wouldn't be cheesy to write. Bolin and Asami are writing her, but he just can't think of a thing to say.

His pen hovers, with all the things he wants to say but knows he shouldn't.

_I miss you._

_It's not the same when you're not here._

_I love you._

He sets the pen down without writing anything at all.

**AFTER: THREE WEEKS**

A week later, he picks up the pen again. He's sitting in his office at the police force, and he writes slowly, every word hesitantly coming from the methodic scratches of his pen. He wants the words to be perfect- he wants to make her smile.

He tells her about his adventures and how the police force is undergoing an effort to take down the triads once and for all, skipping the gory details. Maybe he can entertain her at the very least. He's careful not to talk about anything too personal. She has enough to deal with. He's not even sure whether she wants to hear from him, although Asami repeatedly says of course, she would.

When he's finished writing the letter- he reads it over, carefully. It's not perfect like how he wanted it to be. It probably won't make her laugh, either, just roll her eyes at his stupidity.

But he's desperate to hear from her. So he sends it.

**AFTER: TWELVE WEEKS**

He checks his mail. All the time.

She didn't reply. Did his letter get lost?

He writes Bolin, who's with Kuvira on her mission, asking him whether she's answered his letters. He gets a short, hastily written note back confirming no.

Asami invites him to a Future Industries Gala, where she hopes to make a deal with the government of Republic City to have a stake in its development.

She welcomes him at the door to her mansion, looking very anxious in a new dress and her glossy waves of hair pulled back into a low ponytail.

"Why the ponytail?" he asks.

She smiles, a little shyly. "I wanted to look professional with this reception. To show President Raiko I'm a capable leader and CEO."

"And your hair tells them that?" he asks, a little bewildered.

She laughs. "Oh, Mako." She reaches forward and smoothes down his own wild hair. "Look in the mirror." She steers him over to a big window. "See? You look like an adult. Maybe Beifong will give you a promotion." She grins mischievously.

Mako re-musses his hair. "That's ridiculous," he grumbles, and changes subject. "Have you heard from Korra?" he asks quietly.

Immediately her smile falls, and Mako sees worry that she was cleverly hiding behind those jade coloured eyes. "No," she says softly, "not yet."

They stare at each other for a moment, the sadness mirrored between both of their eyes.

Finally, Asami says, "I have to go make that speech." She attempts a weak smile, holding up a set of cue cards in her hand. "Help yourself to the appetizers." She turns to go.

Mako feels bad for bringing up Korra, and he doesn't want Asami to go up there and speak with that tired look in her eyes. He catches her wrist. "Hey," he says quietly when she turns slightly in his direction. "Korra would be so happy to see you get this job with the city. You know that."

She smiles at him, and this time her eyes are less sad and more determined. "I know, Mako. Thank you."

She goes off to make her speech and Mako sits at the back trying to pay attention to her passion-filled words but ends up with his mind drifting off.

He wrote another letter and sent it before he came here, acting as if he didn't expect a reply._ I bet you're busy_, he offhandedly closed the letter, _getting better. We can't wait to see you again. -Mako_

She's been gone longer than she said she would be. He knows she might need more time to heal. He wishes for a moment that he could be there with her, but he knows that's not what she would want.

She wants to do this on her own and he respects that. But that doesn't stop the void in his chest from growing a little bigger.

He snags a flute of champagne off the tray of a passing waiter and downs it in one gulp.

**AFTER: TWENTY SIX WEEKS**

He's been given a medal for bravery today, for his work bringing down the Triads. He got badly injured trying to save a fellow officer in a bending fight, four to one. He was even in the hospital for a few days.

He's wearing his best uniform and even let Asami slick back his hair. On the stage with him, three other officers are getting the same Merit. Lin Beifong claps a hand on his shoulder as she shakes his hand. "Good job, kid," she says gruffly. He nods solemnly in response.

Next, President Raiko puts the medal over his head. Over the polite applause of the crowd as they pose for pictures, Raiko asks, out of nowhere, "How's Avatar Korra?"

He gives a start and shoots a glance at the older man, but the president's eyes are trained on the camera's flashing in front of them.

"I- I don't know," he stammers, caught off guard. "She went to the South Pole. That's all I know."

"Right," said President Raiko, "I knew that. I just thought you might know more since you are her… significant other."

Mako paused at the awkward phrasing, and his throat felt scratchy as he replied. "No longer, sir."

"I see," said Raiko after a moment. Before Mako could analyze his tone, he is ushered off the stage, stumbling a little on the steps. He doesn't miss Beifong's almost poisonous look at Raiko out of the corner of his eye.

The ache in his heart is always there, but sometimes someone brings it the surface and he is reminded of how much he has lost.

**AFTER: FIFTY TWO WEEKS (ONE YEAR)**

They want to make a statue of Korra, to honour her for her service. Bolin loves the idea and contributes many hours to helping the committee and the artists get the details of the Avatar just right. Asami's company is aiding in construction.

They ask Mako to help them as well, but he politely declines. The statues in the city are all of people who have left the place. People who's time there is long gone, their contributions all made, their duties filled; people who have moved on to something else.

He can't bear thinking of Korra that way. Of never coming back.

Asami tells him quietly that the city plans include renaming the park after Korra. The same park that he spent so many hours with her after Bolin was stolen, so many years ago now. A lump is in his throat and all he can do is nod in acknowledgement.

He's lost count of how many letters he's sent. Sometimes he wonders if she even reads them.

She seems so very far away. And now, with the city celebrating her life as if she's already dead, he hopes that she'll come back soon and berate the committee that made her statue about the weak arms they gave her.

_Any day now_, he tells himself. _Any day now, she'll come barging into my office on Naga with a big grin and put me into a headlock and_…

**AFTER: SEVENTY TWO WEEKS**

He is sleeping at his desk and when he jolts awake from Beifong's stern voice, he doesn't notice a piece of paper fall out of his pocket and onto the floor.

That night, he goes home to his apartment and goes to fish out that ever-creased picture of him and Korra at the festival. It's not there; panic seizes him. He checks the pockets over and over, checks everywhere in the apartment. He swears it was here, he really does…

He spends half the night searching for it. At half past three in the morning, he finally accepts it's gone, and slumps against the door to his apartment. There's a piece of his soul attached to that goddamn photograph. It's the last piece of Korra that he has. Probably, the last piece of Korra he will ever have.

What if he forgets what her smile looks like now? Well, he can do nothing about it, so he sits on the wooden floor and stares out the window.

Tonight, the ache in his heart is burning too hot for even a firebender to tame.

…

The next day, he's hunched at his desk trying to write a report. His hair is neatly gelled down, as he has recently taken to doing, and his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. He doesn't even notice Beifong approaching until she clears her throat.

He jumps in his seat, the pen jerking in his hand to create a large mark on the paper. "Chief," he acknowledges.

She observes him with a poker face. "You should sleep more, kid," she says. "You could carry a week's worth of groceries with the bags under your eyes."

He runs a hand over his face. "Sorry." He doesn't even know what he's apologizing for. Her steely eyes soften slightly before clamming up again.

He notices her looking at the large pen mark marring the otherwise meticulous mission report. He withholds a sigh; he'll have to rewrite the whole damn thing.

"Sorry," he apologizes again, "Don't worry, I'll rewrite it."

She huffs. "I should hope so." She turns to leave Mako's desk, and as she does, she drops something next to his pen. She's disappeared into her office before Mako can even look at what it is.

His heart skips a beat, because he recognizes that paper when he picks it up. It's the feel of thick cardstock that's been folded and unfolded so often that it's as thin as paper. It opens with no resistance, and he finds himself looking into that photo he thought he had lost.

He runs a finger over the crease mark that runs over the top of Korra's head. He must have dropped it here.

He carefully refolds it and tucks it back into the recesses of his coat.

**AFTER: ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR WEEKS (TWO YEARS)**

Mako goes to visit Air Temple Island. Tenzin has news of Korra, Asami tells him excitedly.

Mako can hardly contain his own excitement. It's been too long.

As soon as the boat reaches the island, he sees some of the new Air Nation on the shores. He spots Kai among them, talking to Jinora. Jinora waves at Mako, Mako waves back. He hasn't seen them in a long time, either. They've been gone for a while, travelling the world and helping refugees in the earth kingdom.

Tenzin greets him and Asami as they approach the house.

The airbending master embraces the two in a gentle hug. "It's good to see you two again," he smiles with a twinkle in his eye. Asami and Mako echo his sentiments.

"And Bolin?" Tenzin inquires.

Mako scratches the back of his head. "It's hard for him to get time off, doing what he does. I haven't seen him in a few months."

"I understand," Tenzin nods sagely. "Well, come inside. I'm sure you're anxious to hear how Korra is doing."

Asami nods eagerly; Mako shoves his hands into his pockets and says nothing as they follow Tenzin in.

Inside the dining hall, Tenzin's family, air acolytes and a few other people are clustered. Pema serves them all snacks and tea while Tenzin briefly tells everyone about his trip to the Southern Water Tribe. Mako sits unnaturally still when Tenzin actually mentions Korra and how she showed him how well she was doing.

"So she's all right now?" asks Asami, her hands tightly clutching her teacup.

Tenzin pauses. "Somewhat." There's something he's not telling. Mako feels a stone drop to the bottom of his stomach. All is not well with Korra. Tenzin confirms his suspicions with his next sentence. "She's recovering, but she's not there yet."

"So… she won't be back soon?" Ikki pipes up, sounding disappointed.

"I'm afraid not, Ikki," Tenzin replies.

Everyone looks a little put off, but the conversation soon turns. Mako can't process anything after that; all he can do is stare into his cooling tea and wish Tenzin had told them more. He wants to hear more- Tenzin is being too vague.

He wants to know what she said, exactly what she did. He wants to be able to close his eyes and imagine her in his mind. He wants to know everything.

But he can't bring himself to open his mouth and ask.

So he sits there in silent torture as the party disperses and people drift off to other corners of the room, only startled out of his thoughts by Kai's voice, which is getting a bit deeper than it used to be.

"Hi, Mako. What's up with your hair?"

Mako's tired of people asking this. He sighs, and suddenly becomes aware of all the other things he didn't know he was tired of doing for the past two years. He's also tired of chasing random street criminals. He's tired of getting hurt. He's tired of seeing people he met through Korra. He's tired of staying awake so many nights as he wonders what might have been. He's tired of feeling the absence of happiness in his life. He's tired of feeling heartbroken when he knows he has no right to feel that way.

Mako is so tired.

"What do you want?" he asks, realizing too late he sounds quite rude, and a beat later realizing he doesn't really care. Kai doesn't seem to notice though.

The young teen plops himself down on the cushion next to Mako and mirrors his position with his forearms leaned against the table. "I need your help with something."

"Help," Mako repeats, glad to get his mind on some task, anything other than her. He feels a little re-energized, and begins re-heating his tea in his palms. "Sure. What's up?"

Kai hesitates, and looks around. All the people in the room are immersed in their own discussions. No one is paying attention to them. "Jinora," he half-whispers. "I want to ask her out. Any ideas?"

Mako's cup of tea bursts into flames in his hands. Everyone looks his way; he cringes inwardly and immediately tones down the fire back to its slow burn. "Sorry- sorry-" he mutters, but his apologies are waved off by Pema, and the room gradually increases in noise again.

"Sorry," he mutters wildly to Kai. "You caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting that." He pauses awkwardly, and clears his throat. "Why ask me?"

He doesn't like how Kai is examining him. "Are you kidding? You and Asami. You and Korra. From what I hear, you're quite the _ladies_' _man_." Kai wiggles his eyebrows.

This time Mako cringes visibly. "If you say that phrase again I swear I will set fire to your-"

Kai waves away his threats. "Alright, alright, I get it, I'll regret it." The mirth in the boy's eyes dies down and he becomes serious again. "But really. Any tips?"

Mako sips his tea in order to gain more time to collect his thoughts. He never thought he'd be in this position, but there it is. He is probably the worst possible mentor for this kind of thing. After all, he's messed up so many times with Asami and Korra...The way he dealt with his relationship problems is one of his biggest regrets.

Maybe he can stop it from being one of Kai's.

He sets down the teacup. "Listen up," he says gruffly. "I'm not really a great guy. I can't teach you what you're supposed to do."

"Oh," replies Kai, sounding a little disappointed. "Okay." He made to get up, but Mako continued.

"But I can tell you what _not_ to do..."

Kai's brows furrow as understanding glints in his eyes. And as Mako speaks to the younger one, he feels a certain peace come over him. He can help Kai and Jinora be the happy couple that he and Korra never were. It's not happiness in his heart exactly; but like a part of him is letting go of the past. He hates the comparison but he feels like how he felt when he finally accepted his parents' deaths and vowed instead to devote his energy to protect Bolin.

Maybe it was all meant to happen; maybe he was never supposed to reach happiness. Maybe he was only meant to show others the way.

**AFTER: ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY WEEKS**

Some days, no one _reminds_ him of Korra. Sometimes she just strolls into his head unwarranted.

Tonight he walks aimlessly through the crowded streets of Little Ba Sing Se, listening idly to the sounds of tinkling bells and laughter, smelling delicious aromas of food wafting through windows. It's a lively place, and it especially lights up at nighttime.

He smiles at a girl who is selling fruit, and she blushes and hides behind her hands. He's puzzled for a moment, then thinks maybe she is acting shy because he is still wearing his police uniform.

Korra.

The name runs like a mantra through his head, springing through at random even though he wasn't even thinking about her.

What he wouldn't give to hold her in his arms again. To bury his face into her strong, proud neck, to glide his hands down her smooth, muscular back. To kiss her soft lips and taste her sweetness and smell her familiar scent of salty ocean air. To press his body into hers-they fit together so perfectly- and worship her and love her like she deserves to be loved.

He forces those thoughts away because he's in public. But he's so restless.

He sometimes feels like he's caught in the past, loving a dream of a girl. Sometimes she seems... intangible to him. He accepted long ago that it was over between them, but that doesn't stop him dreaming. She's almost just an idea to him now. Just an echo of laughter in his memory. A glimpse of happier times. He wonders if he ever saw her again, if he would be disappointed; let down by nostalgia.

The thought scares him.

**AFTER: ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY SIX WEEKS**

Mako's waiting at the dock when Bolin gets off the ship. He can't help a grin form on his face. His brother hasn't had time off from Kuvira's forces for months.

Bolin looks a little lost, so Mako shouts his name. Bolin finally spots him and his face breaks out into a wide smile. But there's something in those emerald eyes that wasn't there before- maturity. His little brother has finally grown up, and Mako couldn't be more proud.

He embraces Bolin tightly and when he lets go, Bolin gapes at him. "How did you get so tall?"

Mako laughs awkwardly.

Bolin puts his hands on his hips and announces that his goal is to be twice Mako's height in the next year. As they get in the taxi to take them to Asami's place, Mako informs his brother, much to his distress, that you can't control your height by sheer determination.

Asami's mansion is so much more lived in now, Mako reflects. He hasn't seen her in a while, either. She's busy helping put the finishing touches on the new rail system. Mako is proud of her too. She took charge of a company that seemed doomed to fail and brought it higher than her father ever had.

Asami gets a big hug from Bolin as soon as she opens the door. She looks startled at first, then laughs and pats his back.

"Slow down there," Mako advises his brother. "We don't want you breaking Asami's ribs."

Bolin pouts. "I missed her, okay?" He puts his nose up and sniffs suddenly. "Hold up. Do I smell food?"

Mako and Asami share an amused glance as she leads them inside.

As Bolin inhales the roast chicken steaming on the counter, the three of them catch up. Bolin excitedly tells them how Grandma Yin and the rest of the family are settling in; Asami tells them about how she won a race against another professional driver by an inch; Mako complains about his upcoming police assignment to guard the Earth Prince. It's been a very long time since the three of them were together in the same place. Nobody brings up the elephant in the room- that someone is missing in this picture.

Asami shows them her new office, proudly pointing out the photographs of the buildings and architecture she's helped design. Her desk is a bit messy; her files ruffle gently under the wind coming through the open window. Mako sees a mini-replica of the Korra statue in the park lying on her desk amid the clutter, and he can't help the lump that grows in his throat. Perhaps Asami notices, because she walks them rather quickly back out of the room.

Later, while Asami uses the bathroom, he finds himself wandering back into her study and to her desk. He picks up the little statue and looks into its glazed, stony eyes that are so unlike Korra.

_Why did you leave_? he finds himself desperately wondering. _Please, please come home_.

A swishing sound brings him out of his thoughts. The statue in his hand had been acting as a paperweight, and now the papers underneath it are free to fly off her desk and onto the floor.

He bends to pick them up, only paying half a mind to what they are.

But his keen detective eye notices something. An envelope, addressed to Asami's home... in familiar handwriting.

His heart stops. His hands shake, and he knows the hand that wrote this. Korra.

Korra wrote to Asami.

Korra never wrote to him.

The realization registers dully in his mind. His fingers itch to open the letter, to see what Korra wrote for Asami's eyes alone. But he closes his eyes briefly and controls himself. He contents himself with reading the words _To_ _Asami_ on the envelope. Tracing the characteristic spikes of her letters, memorizing them. Running the pad of his finger over them as if he can absorb a little piece of her.

Then he puts the letter down, carefully where it was before, and puts the Korra paperweight back on top. And then he leaves the room.

He doesn't feel as regretful as he thought he might. He just feels numb.

He knows where she stands now. Truly, she is just a dream for him.

So why can't he let her go?

* * *

><p>When he gets home that night, he takes an unfinished letter he had been writing to Korra and burns it in his hand, watching the ends curl into blackened ashes in his fingers. No more.<p>

No more pining after a girl that didn't care for him. And why should she, after how he'd treated her?

He lets go of the ashes and watches as they drift to the floor. He still can't feel a thing.

**AFTER: ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY FIVE WEEKS **

"How's it going, kid?" Lin asks him quietly when he joins her where she's standing in the corner of the room. This is Prince Wu's first meeting with President Raiko and the day that Mako will start guarding him while he stays in Republic City for the next two weeks.

"It'd be better if I didn't have to drop the investigation I was doing to watch over this kid," Mako says with some exasperation lacing his tone. "Seriously, Chief? Why me?" He'd actually kind of thought Lin had started to like him over the years but apparently he was wrong.

Lin crosses her arms. "_I_ didn't choose you. President Raiko did. He wanted a good cop to watch over the Earth Prince and I can't say I disagree with the decision."

Mako supposes that is the closest Lin will ever get to paying him a compliment, but it doesn't make him feel any better. He opens his mouth to speak again, but the conversation is cut short by a loud, whiny sounding voice.

"Hell-o!"

Mako and Lin turn to see a short, skinny man with bright green eyes and a goofy smile enter the room. He's dressed in the latest of Earth Kingdom finery and fashion and Mako can already tell this is not going to be fun.

Wu's gaze sweeps the room, dismissing the many diplomats there. "Raiko!" The Earth Prince says, one hand propped on his hip. "Where's this bodyguard you said would follow me wherever I went?"

Raiko's smile is polite and warm in a way only a politician's can be. He beckons to Mako to step out of the shadows, and with an internal sigh, he does.

"This is Officer Mako," says President Raiko formally. "He's one of Republic City's finest police officers and he will keep you safe at all costs."

At this, Mako shoots Lin a look, like _I didn't sign up for this._ Lin shrugs helplessly from the corner of the room.

Wu's head swivels like a hawk and gives Mako the once-over. "Oooh..." he says, "I _like_ this guy!"

Mako fights off a blush while the diplomats titter in amusement. To mask his discomfort, he crosses his arms over his chest and delivers a glare to the Earth Prince. Wu doesn't seem to notice; instead, he walks around Mako like he's surveying some merchandise and finally comes to a stop directly in front of him.

He pats Mako's chest. "He'll do," he tells the room, to their delight.

Mako feels like banging his head into the wall.

Later, while the Prince is mingling with the diplomats, Mako is massaging his temples in the corner when Lin walks up to him. "I think he likes you, kid," Lin tells him, and is there the barest hint of a smile on the permanent scowl of her lips.

Mako closes his eyes to the pounding headache he feels coming on. "You think?"

Lin puts a hand on his shoulder. "I know something that will make you feel better about this whole situation."

Mako stares bleakly at his charge across the room, who is now performing an imitation of a boarcupine for President Raiko's wife. "Nothing will make this better," he says glumly.

"Oh, don't be so dramatic," huffs Lin. "Anyway, I meant to tell you that Korra is arriving in Republic City in a week."

All thoughts of anything else flood away from Mako's head.

"What?!"

His eyes must be wider than doubloons. Lin seems to delight in his shock. "What, did you think she was never coming back?"

When Mako doesn't answer, her amusement fades. "She _is_ coming back, Mako. Why wouldn't she? There are too many people she cares about in this city for her not to."

Mako avoids her gaze, not liking the tone she's using. It's very un-Lin like; too knowing, almost _motherly_.

Perhaps Lin realizes this as well, because not a split second later she pushes him roughly into the crowd. "What are you doing standing here? Go watch over Wu. If he gets killed it's on your head, you know!"

**AFTER: ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY FIVE WEEKS (THREE YEARS)**

He and Asami can barely contain their excitement from the rest of the group as they approach the docks. Mako sees the Water Tribe ship and almost feels like skipping. He truly did feel like this day would never come; it is far too surreal. He half thinks it's a dream. And now that the moment is here, he is worried. He is nervous.

Because he knows that it can never be the same.

Not after three years. Not after never writing back. Not after everything that's happened in the world in the time she's been gone.

The thought makes him sad, but he tells himself he doesn't really care. He let go of his feelings for Korra a long time ago. All he wants, he tells himself, is one glimpse of her. He wants to see her face and he wants to see her smile so that he knows that she's happy. If he can see she's alive and well and happy, _he_ can live happily the rest of his life even if he never sees her again afterwards.

That's what he tells himself.

He knows something is wrong the moment Naga bounds off the ship and Korra isn't with her. A stone settles in his gut, and when Tonraq gets off the ship and begins speaking with Tenzin, and he hears that Korra has been missing for the past six months, he _feels_ again.

It's not pleasant. He goes home that night with a pokerface, but inside, his heart is being ripped apart.

_No_! he wants to scream. _So close! I was so close to seeing her again_! But he wasn't really, was he? She had never been here; she's gone and no one knows where she is. In perspective, he's almost disgusted with himself how overjoyed he was to see her. Obviously she wouldn't be here. Obviously. How irrational of him to get his hopes up.

He tries to only feel anger and self-disgust so that he can hopefully drown out the worry. Where is she? Where did she go? Is she okay? He wants so badly to _know_. It's killing him inside not to.

He leans his head against the doorframe with his eyes shut tightly. There's a knock at the door at the same moment; he practically wrenches the door from its hinges. It's Asami. "What?" he barks harshly

Without warning, she envelops him in a hug, and it takes him a second to realize she's crying, sobbing into his chest. "I- I thought she was going to be here, Mako," she cries. "I had the evening all planned out for us. I- I-"

His angry mood dissipates; he puts a comforting arm around her shoulders to silence her because he _knows_. He _knows_ exactly what she is feeling.

He leads her inside and they lie on the couch and Mako, his big brother instinct kicking in, wraps her in a strong hug. And if he's not lying to himself he knows that listening to her openly express all his frustrations in a way he never could is comforting to him as well.

Hours later into the night, they are simply leaning on each other, quiet, totally spent of emotion. The apartment is dim so Mako ignites a small flame in the palm of his hand to give them a little bit of light, and they both stare into it as if it holds the answers they both want to know.

Asami sighs heavily. "She's my best friend."

"I know," Mako replies.

"I've missed her so much."

"I know," Mako replies.

"I love her."

"I know," Mako replies.

"_You_ love her."

There is a beat of silence. Then:

"I know," Mako replies.

Asami turns her head from where it is leaning on his chest and looks up at him. "It's okay to be sad, Mako."

This time he doesn't reply, just keeps staring into his own hypnotic flame.

"She loves you, too," Asami says softly.

Mako still says nothing.

Asami seems to give up on trying to make him speak, and eventually she falls asleep tucked into his chest.

He stays awake.

At some point Asami wakes up.

"What?" he asks in monotone, his voice feeling raspy from disuse.

She touches her cheek. "I... a water droplet fell on me..."

Mako looks at the wet spot on her cheek and comes to the conclusion at the same time Asami reaches up and brushes his jaw. Her fingers come away wet.

Mako hadn't even realized there were tears coming down his face.

She smiles tiredly up at him, a new fondness, laced with a bittersweet touch, in her eyes. "I guess you really _are_ human." She hugs him, and Mako willingly lets her. He feels something crack open inside of him.

And this time, when he extinguishes the light in his palm, with his face buried into her shoulder, for the first time in years,

he cries.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: The end! Please leave a review if you liked or if you have any critique! It really truly means so much to me to know that someone read my work and enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it :)**


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